Alipay, don’t panic, WeChat mini-programs can’t get ahead of you

This is also the question that people have asked the most recently. With the launch of mini programs , will it be more difficult for Alipay to develop social networking ? In fact, it is not the case. The person who asked the question seems to be relatively limited to the Alipay social networking topic. My personal feeling is that, judging from the current form of mini programs, Alipay does not need to worry about how big a lead mini programs will bring, leaving aside the online rumor that mini programs will replace APPs. In this article, I will analyze: Why can’t Mini Programs surpass Alipay in its current form?

Let’s take a look at the mini program first

1. Restrained opening method

As soon as the mini program was announced, various WeChat groups and QQ groups were immediately established to discuss the mini program. After trying out the various mini programs that were forwarded, I found that they were not as good as expected. The mini program can only be accessed by scanning the QR code shown to you by others. It cannot be accessed by long pressing to identify the QR code or scanning the QR code from the photo album. In other words, I can only access it if someone puts the QR code in front of me and I scan it with my mobile phone. The way of dissemination is very restrained, so it is difficult for the target group that uses WeChat groups, Moments, and official accounts to obtain traffic to vigorously use the mini program. After all, it cannot quickly bring in new traffic. If these target users set up a mini program, they will still need to promote their own QR codes to the existing traffic. This is more about maintaining the original traffic, which is relatively uneconomical.

2. Navigation is only possible with scenarios

The scenarios that have been discussed the most are offline financial loans and ticket purchases. I saw a certain program say that it would promote the QR code of the mini program to major stations to make it easier to buy tickets during the Spring Festival travel rush. This scenario of using the mini program for offline scanning is correct. But one thing that was wrong was that tickets for the Spring Festival travel rush had to be snatched up, and you couldn't even buy a standing ticket when you went to the ticket window. The scenario was not explored in depth. The product manager should have understood that the common phenomenon was that all kinds of tickets had to be reserved, not purchased in person. Therefore, in order to launch a mini program, it needs scene support, but how many scenes can it actually be used in?

3. WeChat will not grant higher permissions to mini programs, not now and not in the future

If the mini program wants to achieve faster growth in usage, it should be like a public account, which can be subscribed to and forwarded. However, if this is open, it is very likely that this product will be disliked by users. WeChat official accounts can customize wap websites, and are most commonly used by groups such as media, e-commerce , and micro-business. How much are you willing to accept from the content filled with links shared by our friends circle, WeChat groups, and friends? I remember when official accounts were still pure, many people around me subscribed to more than 100 official accounts, but now whenever we talk about official accounts, most people only subscribe to about 10, because everyone doesn't want to be disturbed.

My personal opinion is that Tencent will not only view WeChat as a social tool . The future of WeChat is a social project that will gradually replace traditional mobile communications, identity information, access control systems, and everything else. Therefore, they will not lose WeChat's currently valuable asset by promoting mini-programs. The driving force behind my above judgment is not to attract attention, but to take the rapid progress of society as a reference. Think about discussing work with colleagues and keeping in touch with parents. Except for answering calls from salesmen, most of the scenarios that require contact can be solved by WeChat. In addition, WeChat’s services such as using WeChat to scan and identify identity for boarding have already been implemented. For the rest, it is just a matter of time.

Therefore, I would like to make a bold statement here that WeChat will not open higher usage permissions to mini programs, not now and not in the future.

Let’s take a look at Alipay

1. Alipay has done a good job of scanning the QR code in person

The Taoist priest discovered it in 2015. Many hotpot restaurants or small restaurants of a certain scale in Hangzhou will put a QR code on the table. There is a table number next to each QR code. You only need to scan the code to enter an h5 page. What are they for? After you place your order, the kitchen will see the order and prepare the food and serve it to the corresponding table number.

During the entire process of ordering food by scanning the QR code with Alipay, users can efficiently complete the process of category selection, order submission, food enjoyment, and checkout. Afterwards, they cannot find the entrance to the store. There is a record in the payment bill, but they cannot enter the homepage of the store (the concept of use and go). The store can save a series of costs such as the number of waiters, the time of waiters occupied by ordering, and printing menus. Relatively speaking, Alipay has done a much better job than the mini program in that the QR code scanning function in the mini program has high-frequency user scenario support and the entire process forms a closed loop.

2. Alipay has more obvious advantages in public scenarios

Judging from the fact that Alipay can cover daily water, electricity and coal consumption in most cities across the country, the government is willing to hand over public payment resources to Alipay. In addition, with Mr. Jack Ma's influence, it is very likely that he can obtain public payment resources from other countries. Returning to the scenario, Alipay has more advantages than WeChat in offline public resource payment. WeChat needs to make great efforts to expand these businesses. In addition, Alipay’s initial positioning as a payment tool is more in line with users’ willingness to pay.

3. Analysis and optimization of Alipay QR code transfer

There are currently two ways to pay with Alipay offline:

(1) The merchant scans the user's payment code to deduct payment

This method requires merchants to have hardware support for scanning codes. Merchants with larger scales will have it, as will high-frequency merchants, especially supermarkets. When making a payment, the user clicks on the payment code, and the merchant scans it with a payment target gun and deducts the amount according to the amount set by the target gun. This is convenient for users; but for merchants, they need to purchase hardware for scanning the code, and when they ask several merchants why they don’t have it, they will either answer that they haven’t bought it or that it’s not cost-effective, so merchants are relatively concerned about this cost issue.

(2) Go to your personal homepage and select the transfer function

In this case, you scan the QR code posted by the merchant on the wall or at the cash register, and the personal page pops up. The user selects the transfer function on the interface. The steps are as follows: click transfer, enter the amount, enter the password or fingerprint payment, and then transfer the amount to the merchant. The process is relatively cumbersome, especially when buying breakfast in the morning, you are quite panic, and the user experience path is relatively long.

In summary, considering the cost issues that merchants care about and the problem of long user experience path, the QR code jump can be optimized. When the user scans the merchant's QR code, the payment input box will pop up directly. The user can pay directly after entering the amount and password. In this way, the promotion of the Alipay mini program saves costs for merchants, optimizes the user path and strengthens behavior. Some people may say that they cannot add friends then, and this method does not work. Then please think carefully, aren’t Alipay friends added directly as long as a transfer has occurred?

Finally, should the company develop a mini program?

Regarding whether to develop a mini program, Daozhang has discussed it with colleagues in the operations department within the company. Some people have also asked me whether their business should develop a mini program. I personally look at it from the following three aspects:

1. The product is low frequency and difficult to promote

Your company's products are used infrequently, the number of naturally growing users does not fluctuate, and promotion is difficult to be effective. In this case, you can consider developing a mini program, but do not copy the functions of your current products. Instead, focus on a core function and give it a try. You may get different returns. I don't recommend making high-frequency products. My first concern is that users are scattered across the APP and WeChat mini-programs . If you want to direct users to the APP when the volume reaches a certain level, it is still quite difficult and may not be effective. The second concern is that you have to consider the product purpose of WeChat. High frequency of use will inevitably violate some policies of WeChat. If you are blocked some day, you will be in tears. In addition, investors probably won't buy it. After all, your product is parasitic on other platforms, and there are still risks.

2. The product has a business scenario

This is easier to understand. If your business requires frequent scanning of codes, then do it immediately. For example, for some offline tea, cosmetics, artworks, etc., when a user scans the code of a product, an introduction page with pictures, texts, videos, etc. will pop up. One reason is that users think you are professional, and the other is that you provide more complete information to help users make decisions, which will help the conversion rate .

3. Reduce existing operating costs

For example, when ordering food offline, usually the waiter stands next to the user, and the user looks at the menu one by one, looking back and forth. In this way, the labor cost can actually be saved. Make a small program to put all the dishes on it. After the user clicks to place an order, the waiter will check with the user to confirm and the kitchen will start preparing. This kind of business can optimize the operating costs. The Taoist priest thinks that this kind of business can be made into a small program.

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

The author of this article is @芒果道长. It is compiled and published by (青瓜传媒). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!